ISaR Projekt

The majority of children with visual impairment in the UK are supported by teaching assistans in the classroom, either on an individual basis or as part of a teaching team. Teaching assistants are often the people who work alongside children more closely than any other education professionals. The quality of their work is therefore central to childrens education and inclusion, yet historically the role of teaching assistant has required no specialist training and there is no national pay or career structure. Research undertaken by RNIB suggests that only a small proportion of teaching assistants employed to work with children with visual impairment currently receive training which leads to a specialist qualification. Recently, however, the Governments commitment to reforming the school workforce has raised the profile of all teaching assistants and focused attention on their training needs. This paper outlines RNIBs response to these developments and charts the creation of a new vocational qualification to meet the training needs of working with children with visual impairment. The paper outlines the proposed content of the course and discusses how the knowledge, understanding and skills of students will be assessed. It also considers ways how the specialist nature of the new qualification will relate to the national qualifications structure being established in the United Kingdom. The paper concludes by suggesting how these changes may impact in the long term on the relationship between teaching assistants and teachers of children with visual impairment.

(Source: Abstract)